


Death and All His Friends

by buoyantsaturn



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, nico has anxiety, nico is A Wreck tbh, will sleeps a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-02 18:40:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10950444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buoyantsaturn/pseuds/buoyantsaturn
Summary: His eyes slid shut, allowing his breathing to slow enough to match Will’s. With each exhale, Nico breathed, “He’s fine. He’s alive.”





	Death and All His Friends

**Author's Note:**

> i just want to Sleep but i keep being forced to Do Things which very possibly means no update of I'm in Hell tomorrow but at least there's this right i hope you like it

Nico sat with his back against a tree just inside the woods, with Will’s head resting in his lap. Sometimes, they liked to sit there, away from the rest of the camp, just for a quiet place to talk. Nico would share stories from the sword fighting classes he’d been asked to teach, and Will would tell him about the current goings on of the infirmary.

It had been a particularly long day for Will, as there had been an incident with the climbing wall after lunch, so he’d been content to sit there with Nico and look at the stars between the tree branches. 

Nico didn’t know how long they’d been sitting there, Will laying across the soft grass with one of Nico’s hands running through his hair. Nico glanced down at his boyfriend, noticing that his eyes had fallen shut, and Nico’s blood ran cold for a second.

Slowly, hesitantly, Nico placed his free hand on the center of Will’s chest. He felt the soft  _ thump _ of Will’s heart beating, and sighed in relief when he felt the gentle rise and fall of Will’s chest with each breath.

Will was fine, Nico told himself, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He was breathing, he had a strong pulse. There was no aura of death around him, and there was no reason for him to be anything but healthy.  _ Will was fine. _

Nico let his head drop back against the tree trunk, leaving his palm resting on Will’s chest and continuing to run the fingers of his other hand through Will’s curls. 

His eyes slid shut, allowing his breathing to slow enough to match Will’s. With each exhale, Nico breathed, “He’s fine. He’s alive.”

After around the sixth repetition, Will’s shifted, eyes opening slowly. “Did you say something?” he asked, covering Nico’s hand on his chest with one of his own. Nico shook his head, and Will hummed. “I thought I heard something. Sorry for falling asleep on you. Literally.”

Nico smiled, twisting a curl around his finger. “It’s fine.”

Will sat up and stretched his arms over his head. He turned, after a moment, and placed a gentle kiss to Nico’s lips. “We should probably head back to the cabins.”

“I think it’s past curfew,” Nico told him.

Will grinned, placing a hand against Nico’s jaw and leaned in. “Guess it’ll be kinda obvious if I’m seen walking into my cabin this late. Whatever will I do?”

“I think I know a place you can stay,” Nico told him, closing the distance between them, reaching out to hold Will close as they fell back into the shadows.

 

Will had fallen asleep as soon as he was out of his jeans and under the blankets. Nico, on the other hand, couldn’t help but try and make out the motion of Will’s chest expanding with each breath. It was too dark, really, but Nico tried anyway, holding his breath until he heard Will’s exhale and then trying to match it to the shift in the shadows in front of him.

At one point, Nico reached over, wrapping his fingers against Will’s wrist and feeling for his pulse. He felt the reassuring  _ thump, thump _ beneath his fingers, but kept his hand there. He finally let himself calm down, allowing his eyes to shut, and just as he felt himself slipping off to sleep, Will’s arm moved out of his grasp.

Nico’s eyes shot open, heart pounding at the sudden loss. He sat up, barely calm enough that he didn’t wake Will, and glanced down at his boyfriend, now sleeping on his back. Nico hesitated before slowly lowering himself back down, closer to where Will was lying, and carefully eased his head to rest on Will’s chest. 

He calmed down almost immediately, head rising and falling with each of Will’s breaths, and was lulled to sleep by the sound of Will’s heart beat. 

 

When he woke up, Nico’s head was still resting on Will’s chest, and one of his arms was thrown across his stomach. He felt a hand in his hair, brushing the strands out of his face, and another resting on his hip and holding him close to Will.

Nico tilted his head, squinting up at his smiling boyfriend.

“Good morning,” Will said. “Comfy?”

Nico tucked his head back against Will’s chest, tightening his hold around Will’s waist. “Yeah.”

“Breakfast is soon, we’re gonna have to get up,” Will reminded him, but Nico didn’t move. “If you move, then we can go brush our teeth and I can kiss you until we have to leave.”

Nico hesitated for a moment before finally pulling away. “I feel like that’s cheating.”

“Of course it’s not, darling.” Will rolled out of bed, standing up with a stretch before reaching for Nico’s hand. “C’mon, you’re coming with me.”

Grumbling, Nico rose from his bed, following Will to the bathroom connected to the back of the cabin, where they brushed their teeth. When the act was finished, Nico immediately pulled Will back to the bed, sitting them down underneath the blankets. He pulled his legs over Will’s, tilting his boyfriend’s head down into a kiss. 

One of Will’s hands gripped Nico’s thigh, keeping his legs propped up on Will’s. One of Nico’s hands went towards Will’s neck, fingers pressing into the skin a little uncomfortably. Will pulled back from the kiss just as it was getting started, and moved Nico’s hand until his fingers were pressing into the spot where his pulse was the strongest.

“If you’re trying to find my pulse, it’s right there,” Will told him, knocking his forehead into Nico’s. “If you’re not, then I’m not sure what you’re trying to do. Strangle me, maybe?”

Nico slipped his hand out from under Will’s, dropping it into his lap with his gaze. “That’s not-- I wasn’t...doing that.”

Will placed a hand on Nico’s jaw, pressing until Nico was looking at him again. “What’s wrong?” he asked, eyes full of concern. “You’re making that face like you did something you don’t want to tell me about because it’s bad for your health.”

While Nico couldn’t turn his head away, he could still avert his eyes. He glanced across the room, grinding his teeth and taking a couple of breaths before speaking. “I’ve...had a rough couple of years, okay? Remember that, it's important.”

“I know that, darling,” Will said, stroking Nico’s cheek with his thumb. “If something’s wrong, you know you can talk to me, right?”

Nico grabbed Will’s wrist, pulling his hand away from Nico’s face, and held it between them. “Not when you’re what’s wrong,” Nico muttered.

Will tried to pull his hand back in shock, but Nico held tight. “What do you mean?”

Nico bit his lip, squeezing his eyes shut and letting his fingers stray to Will’s wrist. “I’m so afraid of losing you,” he croaked, unable to look at the boy in front of him. 

“What?” Will asked, tipping his head to try and meet Nico’s gaze. When that didn’t work, he squeezed Nico’s hand. “Nico, I’m not going to leave you.”

“You don’t know that!” Nico’s head shot up, eyes fierce but red-rimmed, grip so tight he might’ve bruised Will’s fingers. “Bianca promised she wouldn’t leave, and, and Mama didn’t get a choice. Hazel’s the only family I have, and that’s because I brought her back to life! I went into the Underworld and brought her here, and she’s the only one I have!” 

“You have  _ me," _  Will promised him. “I’m here, I’m yours.”

“But what if you leave?” Nico asked, tears starting to stream down his cheeks. “I can’t bring you back, Will. I can’t  _ lose you." _

“You’re not going to lose me,” Will told him.

_ "You don’t know that," _ Nico sobbed. 

Will forced his hand out of Nico’s grasp, wrapping both of his arms around his boyfriend and holding him against his chest. “You need to breathe, Nico,” Will told him. “You need to calm down, because nothing is going to happen to me, okay? I’m right here, I’m fine, we’re both fine.”

Nico focused on the sound of Will’s heart beating, tried to match his breathing, and relaxed in minutes. 

“Clearly you don’t think so,” Will continued, voice soft and one hand running up and down Nico’s back soothingly, “but you’re kinda stuck with me. I’m not planning on leaving anytime soon, and I’m going to do everything I can to stay alive, okay?”

Nico sniffed. “P-People get close to me, a-and they die,” he said. “It keeps happening.” He tilted his head up to look at Will. “You’ve got your work cut out for you.”

Will cracked a smile. “Being with you isn’t work.” 

Nico groaned and pushed his face into Will’s chest.  _ "Gods, _ you’re such a sap. That was gross.”

“I’m only a sap for you,” Will told him, and Nico groaned again, louder. Will kissed the top of his head. “Besides, a lot of people you’re close to are still alive. Percy hasn’t died yet, somehow, and he’s not even invincible anymore.”

Will could practically feel the eye roll. “I don’t know how that idiot has survived this long.”

He pressed another kiss to the top of Nico’s head. “They’re gonna be serving breakfast anytime now, we should probably get going.”

Nico snaked his arms around Will’s back and held tight. “I don’t want to.”

“Nico,” Will said, “breakfast is the most important meal of the day, we can’t skip it.”

“Sure we can,” Nico told him. “I’ll buy you something from the Stolls later.” He tipped his head up, and Will could still see the tear tracks on his cheeks. “Please? I just wanna sit here with you for a little longer.”

Will reached for him, wiping away the stains on his skin. “Who’s the sap now?”

Nico rolled his eyes and pressed his face back into Will’s chest. “Shut up, I’m emotional.”

Will laughed, wrapping Nico up in a tight hug. “Alright, fine, we can stay here a little longer.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!!  
> come shout at me on tumblr at buoyantsaturn bc i keep ruining nico's life (or like for other reasons too if u want to im always up for a chat)


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